Luggage pieces, such as suitcases or briefcases, are often used to transport items that may be heavy. In addition, luggage pieces may be heavy due to the materials and components used to construct the luggage pieces. As a result, difficulty in transporting heavy items may be compounded by the weight of the luggage piece. Thus, luggage weight is often an important consideration when designing a piece of luggage. Additionally, while some soft sided luggage pieces, such as soft sided duffel bags, may be free of support components, such as polypropylene sheets that add rigidity to the luggage piece, this may not be practical for all types of luggage.
Another issue with luggage involves its size. For luggage pieces that are intended to be used for air travel, there are often restriction's placed on the permissible size of the luggage piece. Further, when not being used, luggage pieces often take up valuable storage space. Accordingly, for at least certain types of luggage, it is sometimes desirable for a luggage piece to be at least partially collapsible while still maintaining its general shape in order to minimize its dimensions for certain situations, such as carrying the luggage piece onto a plane or storing it.
To address some of these issues regarding weight and size, one possible approach when designing a luggage piece is to utilize frame structures that provide shape to the luggage piece and also allow the luggage piece to be selectively collapsed. Examples of various types of such frame structures may be found in the following publications: G.B. Publication No. 2 462 099; U.S. Pat. No. 2,016,520; U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,631; U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,563; U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,520; U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,731; U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,184; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,069. However, these luggage pieces and frame structures suffer from various deficiencies.
For example, many of the frame structures require a user to re-arrange at least some of the frame components in order to collapse the luggage piece. This may be undesirable as it usually requires either the frame to be exposed or access to be provided to the frame. Further, these types of frames often include moving parts that may wear out or break, thus potentially undesirably reducing the life span of the luggage piece.
Accordingly, there is a need for luggage that can address one or more of these and other deficiencies in existing luggage.